find-seo-agency

Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find, shortlist, and enrich US SEO agencies. The catalog has thousands of US firms tagged with service_provided:seo under industry:marketing_agency.

Always pin both industry:marketing_agency and service_provided:seo. SEO sub-flavors (technical, local, link-building, on-page, ecommerce, B2B, etc.) are not separate tags — the catalog has one seo tag — so sub-flavor specialization is inferred via keyword search across firm text.

Any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests). Examples below use curl.

Sibling skills — defer when scope is broader

If the user wants a multi-service marketing engagement (SEO plus PPC plus content plus social, or a "full-service digital agency"), defer to find-marketing-agency — that skill covers the same catalog with a broader filter and won't over-constrain on SEO.

If the user wants strictly web/app development (build a site, ship a feature), defer to find-web-developer / find-software-developer.

MCP server (preferred for authed calls)

If your agent harness has the ServiceGraph MCP server loaded (https://mcp.servicegraph.co), prefer its tools for the authed tier (/search, /get, /stats). The MCP server uses OAuth 2.1 + PKCE — the host harness handles credentials in its own audited sandbox, so there's no .env.local, no shell dispatch, and no token value ever enters the LLM context.

For the anonymous tier (/tags, /check, /explore), MCP is not preferred — every MCP tool requires OAuth (the server has no anonymous tier), so plain curl against the REST URL is the simpler path for discovery calls. Use the REST patterns below for those.

The MCP tools 1:1-map to the public REST endpoints — same backend, same quota, same data:

MCP tool	REST endpoint	Anon?	Recommended path
list_tags	GET /v1/tags	yes	curl
check_filter	GET /v1/check	yes	curl
explore_firms	GET /v1/explore	yes	curl
search_firms	GET /v1/search	no	MCP if loaded, else curl + OTP
get_firm	GET /v1/get/:id	no	MCP if loaded, else curl + OTP
catalog_stats	GET /v1/stats	no	MCP if loaded, else curl + OTP

Detection: if you see any MCP tools with servicegraph in the name (the harness-specific prefix varies — agents pattern-match the substring), the ServiceGraph MCP server is loaded. Prefer those tools for the authed tier; complete any auth flow the harness initiates if needed. If no servicegraph MCP tools are present, fall through to the REST + OTP flow below for the authed tier.

The four-tier funnel

Tier	Auth	Cost	Use it for
GET /v1/tags	none	free	First call of every session. Discover legal field names, kinds, operators, values.
GET /v1/check?filter=...	none	free	Validate a filter before spending an explore/search call.
GET /v1/explore?filter=...	none	free, IP-throttled	Scope: count + breakdowns. Use to size the candidate pool before quota-spending.
GET /v1/search?filter=...	bearer	200 unique firms / month free	Brief firm cards. No url, no contact info. Use for ranking / shortlisting.
GET /v1/get/:id	bearer	50 unique firms / month free	Full bundle: url, phone, email, social, legal name, address. Only call for shortlisted firms.
POST /v1/research	paid	not in MVP	Deferred — skip.

Quota rule that matters: /search and /get charge per unique firm viewed per calendar month, not per call. Re-paging the same query is free. Two different filters that overlap charge once for the overlap. Re-fetching a firm you already pulled this month is free.

Session-start ritual

Before constructing any filter, call:

GET https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/tags?include_values=1

Cache the response for the conversation. Confirm seo is present in the service_provided taxonomy returned by /tags. The parser silently accepts unknown tags and returns zero results, so verifying the tag name once per session prevents silent failures.

Field kinds you'll use most:

• categorical: industry (always marketing_agency), state, pricing_model, company_size_signal, geography_served — op :
• tag_set_with_evidence: service_provided (always include seo, optionally with @high evidence) — op : with optional @evidence
• numeric: rating, review_count_total, founded_year — ops = >= <= > <
• presence: has:phone, has:clutch, has:rating, has:linkedin_company, …
• keyword: free-text substring across firm name / brand / title / meta / legal_name. Bareword in the filter becomes a keyword.

Auth

/tags, /check, and /explore are anonymous. /search and /get require a bearer token.

Security model — keep the token out of the LLM context.

• Never read .env, .env.local, or any other credential file into your context. The token's literal value should never appear in the conversation.
• Use shell dispatch for every authed request so the token flows directly from the user's environment / dotenv file into the Authorization header without round-tripping through the LLM.
• Always ask the user once per session before using a detected token, even if it's already in their shell or .env.local.

Resolution rule:

1. Detect whether a token is available — without reading its value. Run a shell check that only inspects exit codes:

   ( [ -n "${SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN:-}" ] \
     || grep -qs '^SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=' .env.local \
     || grep -qs '^SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=' .env )
   

   Exit code 0 = token is available somewhere; non-zero = no token.

2. Confirm with the user before the first authed call this session:

   "I found a SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN in your environment / .env.local. OK to use it for ServiceGraph API requests this session?"

   If the user says no, stay on the anonymous tiers (/tags, /check, /explore) and skip authed calls. Don't re-ask later unless the user asks for authed work.

3. Dispatch via shell — every authed call goes through a shell wrapper so the literal token never enters the conversation:

   # If exported in the shell environment:
   curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN" \
        'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/search?filter=...'
   
   # If in .env.local — source it inside a subshell so it doesn't
   # leak into the parent shell either:
   ( set -a; . ./.env.local; set +a;
     curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN" \
          'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/search?filter=...' )
   

   Capture the response body to a tmp file or jq-process it, but do NOT echo the request command with the token expanded.

4. OTP flow if no token is detected — capture the new token directly into .env.local without surfacing its value to the LLM:

   # 1. trigger the email — agent prompts the user for $EMAIL
   curl -fsS -X POST 'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/auth/request-otp' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d "{\"email\":\"$EMAIL\"}"
   
   # 2. exchange the code — agent prompts the user for $CODE.
   #    The ?format=env query param returns SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=<token>
   #    as plain text appended to .env.local — no jq needed. The -f
   #    flag makes curl exit non-zero on 4xx so a wrong code doesn't
   #    pollute the file (the error mirror is also a `# comment` line,
   #    safe to ignore even if it lands).
   curl -fsS -X POST 'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/auth/verify-otp?format=env' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d "{\"email\":\"$EMAIL\",\"code\":\"$CODE\",\"name\":\"claude-cli\"}" \
     >> .env.local
   
   # 3. confirm capture without revealing the value
   grep -q '^SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=' .env.local && echo "OTP token captured."
   

   After a successful capture, the user has implicitly consented (they just completed the flow), so proceed to dispatch (step 3). The token is now persistent in .env.local for future sessions.

5. If a /search or /get returns 401 unauthorized mid-session, the token expired or was revoked — re-run the OTP flow.

Filter DSL

One query parameter, GitHub-search-style.

filter   := orExpr
orExpr   := andExpr ("OR" andExpr)*
andExpr  := notExpr (("AND")? notExpr)*    # whitespace = implicit AND
notExpr  := ("NOT" | "-") notExpr | atom
atom     := "(" filter ")" | predicate
predicate:= IDENT op valueOrList | bareword
op       := ":" | "=" | ">=" | "<=" | ">" | "<"
valueOrList := value ("," value)*
value    := IDENT | NUMBER | tagAtEvidence
tagAtEvidence := IDENT "@" ("low"|"medium"|"high")
bareword := IDENT | NUMBER          # → keyword:<bareword>

Four rules that bite:

1. AND binds tighter than OR. a OR b c parses as a OR (b AND c). Use parens.
2. Comma list = OR within one predicate. state:CA,NY,TX matches any of the three.
3. Negation is -x or NOT x. Negative literals inside a comma list are not allowed: state:CA,-NY is rejected. Use state:CA -state:NY.
4. Bareword = keyword search. Any IDENT or NUMBER not followed by an operator becomes a free-text substring across name / brand / title / meta / legal_name. Multiple barewords AND.

SEO-flavored examples (validate yours with /v1/check):

industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo@high state:TX
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo technical
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo local
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo ecommerce
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo b2b saas
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo@high rating>=4 review_count_total>=20 has:clutch
industry:marketing_agency service_provided:seo "core web vitals"

When in doubt about whether a filter parses, hit /v1/check?filter=... first — it's free and returns the canonical normalized form.

Sub-flavor → keyword mapping (since the catalog has one seo tag):

User asks for	Add as keyword
Technical SEO	technical
Local SEO	local
Link-building	link-building or links
On-page SEO	on-page or onpage
Off-page SEO	off-page or offpage
Ecommerce SEO	ecommerce
B2B SEO	b2b
Shopify SEO	shopify
Core Web Vitals / page speed	core web vitals (note: multi-word splits into separate ANDed barewords)

firm_id contract

firm_id is a stable 12-hex-char handle:

firm_id = sha256(apex.lower().rstrip(".")).hexdigest()[:12]

apex is the registered domain (searchpilot.com, not www.searchpilot.com/about). Anyone with an apex list can compute firm_ids locally and call /v1/get/:id directly — no /search needed for BYO enrichment.

import hashlib
def firm_id(apex):
    return hashlib.sha256(apex.lower().rstrip(".").encode()).hexdigest()[:12]

echo -n "searchpilot.com" | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' \
  | openssl dgst -sha256 -hex | awk '{print substr($2,1,12)}'

Recipes

A. SEO agency in a state (the baseline)

User: "Find me an SEO agency in Texas."

GET /v1/explore?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+state:TX
# → pool size + breakdowns

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+state:TX&limit=10
# → 10 brief cards; user picks 3

GET /v1/get/<firm_id>     # ×3
# → urls, phones, emails for outreach

B. Technical SEO for a SaaS company

User: "Three technical SEO consultancies for a B2B SaaS company."

technical and b2b and saas go in as barewords; SEO sub-flavor isn't a structured tag.

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+technical+b2b+saas&limit=10

C. Link-building + on-page for ecommerce

User: "Help with link-building and on-page SEO for our ecommerce store."

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+link-building+on-page+ecommerce

If the breakdown is sparse, drop one of the barewords (start with on-page) — agencies that do SEO at all usually do both.

D. Local SEO for a multi-location business

User: "Local SEO agency to help our chain of fitness studios in NJ."

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo+local+state:NJ&limit=10

The catalog tags one state per firm (HQ); the local-SEO firm doesn't have to be in NJ to serve NJ clients. If results are too narrow, drop state:NJ and use geography_served:national_US,multi_state_regional.

E. Indirect intent — "organic traffic flat"

User: "Our organic traffic has been flat for 6 months — we need an SEO partner."

That's an SEO procurement ask. Translate:

GET /v1/explore?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo
# → confirm the pool exists

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo&limit=10&order_by=relevance

If the user gave a vertical or location elsewhere in the conversation, add it. Otherwise present the top-10 by relevance and ask for constraints.

F. Quality threshold + third-party signals

User: "Three SEO agencies with at least 4-star ratings, 20+ reviews, and a Clutch profile."

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+rating>=4+review_count_total>=20+has:clutch&limit=10

G. BYO apex list — enrich domains the user already has

User pastes 8–20 domains. For each:

1. Compute firm_id locally (see contract above).
2. GET /v1/get/<firm_id> — full bundle if in catalog, 404 (not charged) if not.
3. Aggregate, present, flag the not-found ones to the user.

Useful for confirming whether a list of "SEO firm" domains is actually in the catalog and pulling contact info in one pass. Note that not every firm with seo in their domain is tagged service_provided:seo in the catalog — a 404 here doesn't mean the firm doesn't exist, just that we don't have it.

Gotchas

• Always pin both industry:marketing_agency AND service_provided:seo. Without the industry pin, service_provided:seo would match SEO services from IT firms or design shops too. Without the service pin, you'd return all marketing agencies regardless of SEO specialty.
• SEO sub-flavors (technical/local/link-building/on-page) are NOT separate tags. Use barewords (technical, local, link-building, etc.) for sub-flavor — these become keyword substring matches in firm text.
• Defer to find-marketing-agency for multi-service scope. If the user wants SEO plus paid plus content plus social as one engagement, that's a full-service marketing ask, not strictly SEO.
• Defer to find-web-developer for "fix our site speed / Core Web Vitals" if they want it BUILT. SEO agencies advise on CWV; they generally don't refactor your front-end. If the user wants development work, that's web-dev, not SEO.
• looks_not_pro_services 404 is not a bug. A firm_id may exist in /search but 404 on /get if it's been flagged. Skip and continue; not charged.
• /v1/explore k=20 suppression. When fewer than 20 firms match, the response is {"count": "<20", "suppressed": true, "breakdowns": {}}. Drilling further makes the count smaller. Broaden or escalate to /v1/search.
• Briefs from /search do NOT include apex, url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, or address. If the user asks for contact info, you must /get/:id. Do not pretend to have it from the brief.
• Catalog is US-only B2B. Refuse non-US asks ("an SEO agency in Berlin"), individual freelancers ("a freelance SEO writer"), and DIY/do-the-work asks ("how do I rank for X").
• "SEM" / "PPC" / "paid search" / "Google Ads" are NOT SEO. Defer those to find-marketing-agency. SEM-vs-SEO is a frequent terminology mix-up.
• Multi-word phrases must be split into separate barewords. core web vitals parses as three AND'd keywords.
• Quota is per-user-per-month, deduped on first view. Re-views are free; re-pagination is free.

Errors

All errors return JSON: {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}.

Status	Code	What to do
400	filter_parse_error	Payload includes position. Fix the filter, re-validate with /v1/check.
400	filter_required	Empty filter where one is required.
400	invalid_firm_id	firm_id must be 12 lowercase hex chars. Re-derive.
401	unauthorized	Token missing/expired. Re-run OTP.
404	not_found	Firm not in catalog or flagged. Not charged. Skip and continue.
429	rate_limited	Honor Retry-After header / retry_after field.
429	monthly_quota_exhausted	Switch to /v1/explore-only mode for the rest of the month. Tell the user.

Authed responses carry X-RateLimit-* and X-Quota-* headers. Surface the remaining-month value to the user when it gets low so they can budget.

End-to-end example

User: "Three technical SEO consultancies for a B2B SaaS company, ideally with at least a 4-star rating and a Clutch listing."

# 1. Discover fields (once per session)
GET /v1/tags?include_values=1
# Confirms 'seo' is a valid service_provided tag, 'rating' is numeric,
# 'has:clutch' is a presence flag.

# 2. Validate the filter and scope the pool (free, no auth)
GET /v1/check?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+technical+b2b+saas+rating>=4+has:clutch
# → {"valid": true, "normalized": "..."}

GET /v1/explore?filter=industry:marketing_agency+service_provided:seo@high+technical+b2b+saas+rating>=4+has:clutch
# → {"count": 22, "breakdowns": {...}}

# 3. Search briefs
GET /v1/search?filter=...&limit=10
# Header: Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN
# → 10 brief cards.

# 4. Present briefs to user, get their pick of 3.

# 5. Pull full bundles for the 3 picks
GET /v1/get/<firm_id>     # ×3
# → urls, phones, emails for outreach

End of session: report X-Quota-Remaining-Month so the user knows how much budget is left.